Clinical Psychology Program Student Handbook.pdf

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAM

STUDENT HANDBOOK

Department of Psychology

University at Buffalo

The State University at New York

Revised April 9

2024

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 2

CHAPTER 1

Nature of the Program

Welcome to the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Training Program. We hope that the years that you spend

in the program will prepare you for the many exciting careers available to you. This manual is meant

to provide some basic guidance for you as you plan your training. It should be supplemented by the

Psychology Department's Graduate Student Manual. Even more important, however, is the thoughtful

advice and recommendation of your faculty advisor. You will find that the faculty, and particularly your

faculty academic advisor, are helpful and supportive.

The Clinical Psychology Program follows a clinical science model, as defined by the Academy of

Psychological Clinical Science (see https://www.acadpsychclinicalscience.org/mission.html). Our

overarching program aims include: (a) preparing students for careers in clinical science research, (b)

advancing the science of psychology through original research, (c) striving to improve health and

quality of life through excellence in research, education, and health service delivery, and (d) fostering

the timely dissemination of clinical science to psychologists and other scientists, practitioners, and

consumers. At the core, our program aims to foster the training of students for careers in

psychological clinical science in which they generate and apply scientific knowledge. Our training

philosophy embodies a strong commitment to evidence-based approaches to evaluating the validity

and utility of testable hypotheses and to advancing knowledge by this method. APCS defines clinical

science as "a psychological science directed at the promotion of adaptive functioning; at the

assessment, understanding, amelioration, and prevention of human problems in behavior, affect,

cognition or health; and at the application of knowledge in ways consistent with scientific evidence."

We expect our students to contribute to the science of clinical psychology, and to learn to infuse their

clinical work with empirical findings and theoretical concepts. Finally, through training, we expect

students to gain an understanding of professional issues, including ethical, legal, and diversity

principles. Our students have historically pursued career paths that align with our clinical science

model and the vast majority of our students have a clinical science outcome (e.g., academic

appointments, academic medical center positions) and are engaged in the creation of new knowledge

in clinical science and/or the use of evidence-based practices as part of their service delivery and

research activities. Regardless of the career outcome, our alums incorporate scientifically-informed

and current evidence-based knowledge into their careers.

Like all quality programs in clinical psychology and clinical science in particular, this program is

demanding. The faculty will expect you to learn to do professional quality work in both clinical

research and practice. Although our standards are high, we try to maintain a supportive and

encouraging attitude. Given our focus on training the next generation of clinical scientists, we strongly

encourage you to get involved in your advisor's laboratory immediately and stay involved right up to

the completion of your Ph.D. Most of the students selected for this program are highly successful in

their graduate training. We know, however, that students are much more likely to get into academic

difficulty because they isolate themselves from aspects of the program or from their faculty advisor.

The following material represents a description of the specific requirements and details of procedures

for completing the Ph.D. degree in Clinical Psychology. Please note that our training program, like the

discipline of psychology, is constantly reevaluated and modified to reflect changes in the discipline.

The requirements spelled out in this manual may differ from earlier versions of the manual. You

should rely on the edition that came out the year you started the program as a guide for what you are

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required to do to complete your program.

You should obtain a copy of the Department of Psychology's Graduate Student Manual, which

includes information on matters not discussed in this Clinical Psychology Manual, including

procedures and deadlines for becoming a doctoral candidate, steps to follow in completing the

dissertation, policies on assistantships, registration, transfer of credits, incompletes, grievance

procedures, etc.

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CHAPTER 2

Program Requirements

In order to receive the Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology a student must complete six requirements: (1)

course requirements; (2) ethical and professional training; (3) two preliminary projects; (4) practical

competence in clinical skills; (5) an approved clinical internship; and (6) a doctoral dissertation and

defense of the dissertation. Each of these is described in detail below.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

___ PSY 604, Research Methods in Clinical Psychology

___ PSY 607, Advanced Statistical Methods I

___ PSY 608, Advanced Statistical Methods II

___ PSY 609, Multivariate Statistics

___ PSY 624, Clinical I: Psychopathology

___ PSY 654, Clinical II: Psychological Assessment

___ PSY 751, Clinical III: Clinical Treatments: Adult

___ PSY 778, Clinical IV: Clinical Treatments: Child & Family

___ PSY 611, History & Systems

___ PSY 617, Advanced Developmental Psychology

___ Clinical Elective*

___ PSY 513, Biological Bases of Behavior (biological distribution course)

___ PSY 639, Cognitive Processes (cognitive-affective distribution course)

___ PSY 680, Advanced Social Psychology (social distribution course)

___ PSY 605, Introduction to Professional Issues

in Clinical Psychological Science

___ Practicum I (Intervention I: Psy 671, Intervention II: Psy 672)

___ Practicum II (Intervention III: Psy 763, Intervention IV: Psy 764)

____PSY 765 (Intervention V)

____PSY 799: Supervision in Applied Skills (minimum of 2 semesters of 1 credit advanced practicum)

*Clinical electives are defined as graduate level courses taught by core clinical faculty that are not part of the required

sequence (including but not limited to Structural Equation Modeling, Development and Psychopathology, Addiction,

Clinical Psychophysiology, and Teaching Psychology). In addition to courses taught by core clinical faculty, Multi-Cultural

Psychology in the Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology Department counts as a clinical elective. If in doubt

about whether a particular course is considered an elective, consult with the DCT.

NOTE: The University has a 72-credit rule that states that tuition will not be waived for more than 72 credits of graduate

study.

SEQUENCE OF COURSES/ACTIVITIES

The clinical psychology doctoral program is designed to be completed over six years total—five in

residence completing course requirements, clinical practica, and research—and a final year

completing an APA-accredited clinical internship. Below is a typical course and activity sequence.

FALL SEMESTER SPRING SEMESTER

YEAR I Introduction to Professional Issues (605)

Introduction to Professional Issues (605)

Advanced Statistics I (607) Advanced Statistics II (608)

Psychopathology (624) Psychological Assessment (654)

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Research Methods (604) Adult Treatments (751)

Research Research

Clinical Brown Bag

YEAR II Multivariate Statistics (609) Child/Family Treatments (778)

Intervention I (671): Practicum Intervention II (672): Practicum

Bio, Cog, or Soc Distribution Course History & Systems (611)

Research Research

Clinical Brown Bag

YEAR III Intervention III (763): Practicum Intervention IV (764): Practicum

Bio, Cog, or Soc Distribution Course Developmental Psychology (617)

Bio, Cog, or Soc Distribution Course Clinical Elective

Research Research

Clinical Brown Bag

2nd-Year Project Presentation Clinical Case Presentation

Intervention V (765)

YEAR IV Advanced Practicum (799) Advanced Practicum (799)

Research/Write Dissertation Proposal Write/Defend Dissertation Proposal

PSC Caseload

External Placement

Clinical Brown Bag

YEAR V Dissertation Research Dissertation Research

Apply for Internship Internship Interviews

Clinical Brown Bag

Defend Dissertation

YEAR VI Clinical Internship Clinical Internship

Defend Dissertation

Notes:

Full title of course is “Introduction to Professional Issues

in Clinical Psychological Science.” This seminar is a one-credit

course designed to orient students to graduate school, clinical research, and professional development. It is required in

both semesters of students’ first year and optional for other students.

Students are expected to attend and participate in Clinical Brown Bag presentations every semester in which they are in

residence.

Child/Family Treatments (778) and Developmental Psychology (617) are rotated every other year in the

spring semester.

History & Systems (611) is a 1 credit course and typically offered every other year, and thus students typically take it

either in their second or third year.

Clinical electives—defined as graduate-level courses taught by core clinical faculty that are not part of the required

sequence—typically are offered only in the spring semester and can be taken as a third or fourth course.

Any student seeing PSC cases over the summer between their 2nd and 3rd year is expected to enroll in Intervention V

(PSY 765) during the fall semester of their 3rd year.

After completing the required practicum course sequence, students are expected to carry three cases at the PSC when

in residence and complete a minimum of 52 hours of direct service hours per year, with the exception of the internship

application year. Up to half of these hours can be completed in a faculty-sponsored intervention setting. These are

typically research-based interventions that are part of a faculty member’s ongoing research program. All such

experiences require the prior approval of the clinical faculty. Contact the DCT for details. Students must accrue a

minimum total of 150 direct service practicum hours in the PSC.

An external placement is optional and is usually done after the third year. See below for details.

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Clinical Hours

Students should maintain ongoing records of their clinical hours. Starting in Fall 2023, the Program

will be purchasing Time2Track for all students and as such we expect students to use it to document

all clinical hours that will be certified for internship and future licensure applications. Students are

expected to monitor their hours with an eye toward goals for internship, and to discuss these with

their mentor as part of their semesterly evaluations. Although child practicum typically does not begin

until the fall of the 4

year, students should not count on picking up internship hours late in the

program (e.g., in the 5

year) in the event that they are “behind” on clinical hours, as supervision for

this may not be available.

In recent years the number of clinical hours has been increasing with the median number of hours far

exceeding the typically recommended 600 direct service hours (Intervention + Assessment). Students

with particular training goals that warrant additional hours should discuss these with their mentor (see

above), but others should be mindful that more hours may not necessarily increase their chances at

matching or matching at their top site (per 2023 PCSAS survey of clinical science internship

applicants).

EXTERNAL PRACTICA

An external placement is optional and is usually done after the third year. Interested students should

talk with their advisor about the appropriateness of the timing and fit of the placement with their

training goals. Students wishing to complete an external placement at one of the sites listed below

must submit the external practica petition form

(https://buffalo.box.com/s/u66c6vz7vz64e7di23i15bgfdu662oa4) to the DCT at least one month prior

to the proposed start date. Without prior approval for external practica from the DCT, accrued hours

will not be certified by the DCT on internship applications. In general, application deadlines are in

early March, but you should contact the specific site to confirm the deadline and the application

process. Please be aware that external placements do not relieve students of the responsibility of

carrying clients in the PSC.

Approved placements:

1. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (RPCCC) currently accepts 2 practicum students

for the academic year. Students are expected to have training in assessment, case

conceptualization, and intervention strategies. Each student will have the opportunity to be directly

supervised by each of the two licensed psychologists in the department. Students first shadow

their supervisor until they are comfortable accepting their own assessment and psychotherapy

cases. At this point, trainees will be expected to carry a caseload of 5-10 inpatient and outpatient

(in-person and/or virtual) cases.

Students are expected to be on-site for at least 16 hours/week, preferably over 3 days for an

estimated total of 500 hours. Because of the nature of this work, it is beneficial to be available to

follow inpatients at the beginning and end of each week for continuity of care. Practicum activities

consist of direct patient care along with 1 hour of weekly individual supervision by a licensed

psychologist, and 1 hour per week of group supervision/journal club/didactics. If interested, please

email a letter of interest, CV, and at least 1 letter of reference to Megan Pailler, Ph.D.

([email protected]). Decisions are made in early to mid March and the practicum

starts at the beginning of the fall semester.

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2. Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) Rehabilitation Psychology Practicum: The placement is

offered through the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine where externs work collaboratively with

a team of medical professionals that includes physicians, nurses, social workers, and physical

therapists. The placement provides experience working in the field of health psychology, including

providing consultation services and group interventions. Specialized training allows for

comprehensive services for chronic pain, adjustment to injury/illness, brain injury, spinal cord

injury, amputations, PTSD, Transgender/Gender Confirming Surgical consults, and pre-surgical

psychological evaluations. Students are expected to be on site 16-20 hours per week (typically 2

full days on site). There is one hour per week of individual supervision with Dr. Keenan-Uschold

and a second hour of weekly group supervision. Email a letter of interest and vita to Dr. Lisa

Keenan-Uschold at [email protected]. Interviews are completed in March with notification of

placements offers by April 1st. The placement begins in June with peer cross training to ease the

transition.

3. Adolescent Inpatient Unit at Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) under the supervision of

Dr. Sarah Taber Thomas: The adolescent inpatient unit population at ECMC includes

adolescents (ages 13-18) who are usually admitted from the emergency room or the intensive

care unit of ECMC. The average stay on the unit ranges from 1 to 3 weeks. Most of the patients

have co-morbid disorders. The treatment milieu includes pharmacological treatment, group

counseling, individual therapy, family meetings, and a day school. Between 5 and 15 patients are

treated on the unit at any given time. Extern involvement will consist of leading or co-leading a

manualized cognitive behavioral skills group. There is also the opportunity to attend staff

meetings, rounds, and/or family meetings; this needs to be coordinated with the head psychiatrist

on the unit. Weekly supervision of group process will be conducted by Dr. Taber-Thomas.

4. Oishei Children’s Hospital, Children’s Psychiatry Clinic: The Children’s Psychiatry Clinic is a

New York State Office of Mental Health licensed clinic that provides diagnostic and treatment

services to Western New York youth and their families who are experiencing emotional and/or

behavioral disturbances. As a practicum student, you will be assigned cases and will work with

your supervisor in conducting assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and collaboration with psychiatry.

You will attend biweekly Clinical Staff Meetings, biweekly Multidisciplinary Case Conferences, and

monthly Academic Rounds, during which times you will have the opportunity to interact with the

entirety of our clinical staff in various settings. Further, you will participate in a weekly training

series, which consists of a didactic program and a peer supervision group. Additionally, you will

have the opportunity to observe and potentially take on clinical responsibilities in specialty clinics,

which focus on issues such as the autism spectrum, eating disorders, consultation-liaison, OCD,

and weight management. Practicum students are also encouraged to co-lead groups, either using

formats of past groups or developing a group of one’s own. Finally, as the clinic continues to

develop additional research initiatives, students are welcome to participate in any ways they might

find meaningful. Any interested students must be available approximately 15 hours per week (this

can be flexible on case-by-case basis), spanning from late August to late May. Students must be

available to attend the above-referenced meetings and trainings, all of which take place on

Thursday mornings. Otherwise, students are free to schedule their clinic patients and individual

supervision at their own convenience. If you are interested in applying, please e-mail a letter of

interest and your CV to Alex Cogswell, Ph.D., at [email protected]. These are typically due in

early March and you can inquire to Dr. Cogswell for the exact date.

Provisionally approved and temporary placements:

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5. Forensic Assessment Psychology Practicum: The assessment practicum is a valuable

learning experience in the use of psychological assessment for both clinical and legal purposes.

Students will be exposed to adolescent and adult forensic psychiatric patients presenting with a

variety of mental health problems. Using standard psychological tests, students will take cases to

assess for differential diagnosis, psychopathology, personality traits, and cognitive and social

functioning. Students can expect to gain experience with diagnostic testing, neuropsychological

assessment and forensic evaluations to determine mental and legal capacity. Students will have

opportunities to attend and participate in training seminars, staff meetings, weekly presentations

and grand rounds. In addition, there are opportunities to get involved with research and develop

projects. Students can expect to be on site at least 16 hours each week and to receive at least 45

minutes of supervision each week with more supervision in the beginning of your training. To

apply contact Daniel Antonius, Ph.D. ([email protected]). For further detail see:

https://medicine.buffalo.edu/departments/psychiatry/education/psychological-assessment.html

6. Clinical Forensic Psychology Practicum: This practicum helps students build knowledge about

the therapeutic and pharmacological treatment of individuals in the criminal justice system.

Students will administer individual and group psychotherapy and conduct diagnostic testing with

mildly to severely mentally ill incarcerated patients with a range of mental disorders, including

psychotic and affective disorders, personality disorders, and dual diagnoses of substance use

disorders. Students will have opportunities to attend and participate in training seminars, weekly

presentations and grand rounds. In addition, there are opportunities to get involved with research

and develop projects. Students can expect to be on site for at least 16 hours each week and to

conduct psychotherapy sessions for five to eight patients on a weekly basis. Students will also

follow a number of other incarcerated psychiatric patients who require less treatment maintenance

and who are incarcerated for brief periods. To apply contact Daniel Antonius, Ph. D.

([email protected]). For further detail see:

https://medicine.buffalo.edu/departments/psychiatry/education/forensic-psychology.html

7. Strong Family Foundations Externship/Practicum. Empirically-based parenting intervention

(both group and individualized components) starting with expecting couples from the end of

pregnancy through the early postnatal period. Clinical training and supervision for leading group

and providing individual treatments will be provided. Included will also be opportunities for

learning, conducting, and coding observational assessments and collecting family data from home

visits or videoconferencing with couples and young children. Group treatment emphasizes

parenting skills and healthy early development. The time commitment is 5 to 10 hours per week

with 1 hour of weekly group supervision weekly and 1 hour of biweekly individual supervision.

Supervision is conducted by Dr. Stephanie Godleski, LCP and Dr. Rina Eiden. Contact Dr.

Godleski for information about the application process: [email protected]

8. VA Center for Integrated Healthcare (CIH) at Buffalo VA Hospital: Practicum students will

have the opportunity to train in, and deliver, clinical interventions incorporated into existing

research studies. Specific intervention approaches vary based on currently funded projects.

Current investigations are evaluating brief cognitive-behavioral interventions for Veterans with a)

concussion and co-occurring mental health conditions, b) chronic pain, and c) cardiovascular risk

factors. Weekly supervision is provided. The projected time commitment is 8-12 hours per week.

Additional hours may be negotiable.

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To apply: Email a CV, cover letter, and letter of recommendation from your primary advisor or

program director to Drs. King ([email protected]), Beehler ([email protected]), and Gass

([email protected]).

New placements under consideration by the program:

These are externships that are new to our program in the sense that no prior students have worked in

these sites. They have been approved on a trial basis.

9. Wheatfield Pediatrics: The intern position at Wheatfield Pediatrics offers students the opportunity

to provide child, couple, and family counseling. All students are expected to devote a minimum of

six hrs/week to practicum, some of which may be evening commitments. Responsibilities will

include provision of psychotherapy, facilitating parent training, weekly supervision (1-2 hrs/week),

and attendance at brown bag case conferences, as appropriate. Students will be expected to

videotape their sessions and supervision will involve review of videotapes. As noted previously,

students are also expected to provide Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) on a regular and

ongoing basis. Interested students must be in their fourth year of training or beyond, and have

completed coursework in assessment, cognitive-behavioral interventions, and child development.

In addition, previous experience delivering child/family interventions is strongly preferred.

Incoming students will be required to have successfully completed training in PCIT prior to their

start date (at the PSC). To apply, please submit letter of interest, CV, and one letter of

recommendation (preferably from someone who can speak to clinical experiences) to Keith

Klostermann, Ph.D. at [email protected] no later than September 1. Interviews will be

held on a rolling basis, as applications are received. Students typically start this practicum in the

fall semester; however, summer start dates are also available, and may provide students with a

greater opportunity to establish ongoing therapy caseloads.

Ad hoc external placements:

Sometimes students become aware of additional clinical opportunities that potentially might serve

as external placements. In such cases, the student should complete the petition form for ad hoc

placements (https://buffalo.box.com/s/1v4sfuzf56qyquknleqfzliooepfg1pj). This petition form

will require that you provide a detailed description of the nature of the experience, how it will be

supervised, and how it will enrich your training. The petition should be submitted to the

DCT/Associate DCT at least three months prior to the proposed start date. This is necessary to

provide sufficient time for the DCT/Associate DCT and clinical area to review the application and

ensure that a valid affiliation agreement is in place. Affiliation agreements ensure that students are

covered under the University's student liability insurance and that the experience can be counted

as an approved educational experience. Only placements with adequate supervision (e.g., use

direct observation as part of supervision), that are consistent with the student’s professional goals,

that are at least 50% in person, and will not hamper timely progress through the program will be

approved. If an external supervisor is not a doctoral level psychologist but maintains a license in

an allied field (e.g., licensed clinical social worker, licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed

mental health counselor), it may be possible to be approved if a doctoral level clinical psychologist

among the core faculty is available for additional weekly supervision.

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ETHICS, DIVERSITY, AND PROFESIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Training Overview: Consistent with guidelines outlined by the American Psychological

Association Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA, 2002), we view a

solid understanding of ethical and diversity issues affecting the practice of psychology to be an

essential foundation of your training. Accordingly, we have developed a curriculum that will

provide you with training in these issues as they may present in all aspects of your future role

as a scientist and practitioner. We have adopted an infusion model. Thus, ethical and diversity

issues relevant to various course content areas are represented throughout your training

curriculum in class assignments, readings, practicum experiences, and topical discussions. In

this training curriculum, diversity is defined inclusively, limited not only to ethnic diversity, but to

the myriad ways in which individual characteristics or group membership may define

individuals or societies. Such influences include but are not limited to culture, sex, ethnicity,

age, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and learning, developmental and

physical disabilities. Students are expected to develop an understanding of the diversity and

ethical issues underlying professional and scientific responsibility and integrity.

• Learning Objectives: Ethics and diversity knowledge obtained through your readings, course

assignments, class lectures, area colloquium, and practicum experiences will inform your

scientific, didactic, and clinical practice of psychology. This will include consideration of ethical

and diversity issues in domains such as psychological assessment, case conceptualization,

treatment efficacy, research design, recruitment and treatment of human research participants,

and teaching and mentoring. Each student is expected to read and become thoroughly familiar

with the APA Code of Professional Ethics. Readings on ethical standards in research and

practice are assigned and discussed in several required courses (e.g., PSY 604 Clinical

Research: Design, Methods, and Ethics, PSY 605 Introduction to Professional Issues in

Clinical Psychological Science, PSY 624 Psychopathology, PSY 654 Psychological

Assessment, PSY 671 Intervention I, PSY 672 Intervention II, PSY 751 Clinical Treatments:

Adult, PSY 778 Clinical Treatments: Child & Family). Readings on diversity are assigned in

discussed in most required classes (e.g., PSY 604 Clinical Research: Design, Methods, and

Ethics, PSY 605 Introduction to Professional Issues in Clinical Psychological Science, PSY

654 Psychological Assessment, PSY 751 Clinical Treatments Adult, PSY 778 Clinical

Treatments: Child & Family), and elective courses. We expect that you demonstrate

understanding of ethics and diversity as they are relevant to each of these areas will prepare

you for the competent practice of psychological science.

• Outcome Assessment: Your mastery of the material outlined in our learning objectives will be

assessed in several ways across various courses and through specific assignments, which will

be delineated in individual course syllabi. To ensure full integration of this material into your

role as a clinical scientist, your Third Year Clinical Case Presentation also will include a

component devoted specifically to ethical and diversity issues. As such, for your successful

completion of the Third Year Clinical Case Presentation you will need to demonstrate facility

and application of knowledge of ethics and diversity as it is applied to a client case.

PRELIMINARY REQUIREMENT

The preliminary requirement must be completed before filing for candidacy for the doctoral degree,

and consists of four components: (1) a Second Year project, (2) a Third Year project, (3) a Third Year

Clinical Case Presentation, and (4) Certification of pre-internship clinical competence. It is the

responsibility of the student to inform the area in writing of the completion of the second and third

year projects, and the clinical case presentation using the appropriate form shown in the appendix of

this manual. In addition, for Second and Third Year Projects, a final copy of the approved paper must

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be filed in the clinical area office. A permanent file of second and third year project papers is kept in

the clinical psychology area office and is available for the use of both students and faculty.

Each of these preliminary requirements produces direct benefits for the student. The professionally

relevant educational benefits include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Close individual contact with committee members, enabling the student to better understand

and utilize the committee member's intellectual viewpoints, knowledge, and experience and

enabling the faculty member to make sound evaluative judgments of the student.

2. Increase in experience, confidence, and professional identification as a consequence of

completing work of considerable scope that faculty accept as meeting standards of

performance applicable to the doctoral program.

3. Furtherance of progress in the doctoral program through the use of knowledge and skills in

designing or completing additional requirements such as the proposal for the doctoral

dissertation or the dissertation itself.

4. Furtherance of professional career through publication of the work or through presenting it in

professional contexts such as professional meetings, colloquia, seminars, or lectures.

5. Use of the work in other professional contexts, such as job interview, program planning and

implementation, or research grant applications.

Research Mentorship

The first step in the completion of the second and third year projects is to develop the skills necessary

to accomplish these tasks. Each student should at all times during their graduate career work with a

faculty member who has an active research program. Each semester students are evaluated in

regard to their research activities with their mentor.

Second Year Preliminary Requirement (Second Year Project)

Each student is required to complete an empirical research project under the guidance of a chair and

at least one additional clinical area committee member. If it would be helpful for the project, a clinical

adjunct faculty may serve as a third committee member. Although known as the “Second Year

Project,” work on this requirement should begin during the first year of graduate school. The project

must be completed by the end of the fourth semester of graduate school.

The following steps are involved in completing this requirement:

1. A formal written proposal for the research project should be prepared by the student under the

direction of the chair and submitted to the remaining committee member(s) for review. A

proposal meeting will be held to discuss the details of the proposal and approve the final

design. The proposal must be completed by August 1 following the first year of graduate study.

2. At the end of the 4

semester (Spring of 2

year), the student submits a written paper based

on the study. This paper should follow APA style and take the form of a manuscript that could

potentially be submitted for publication. The committee will read and evaluate the paper. At the

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discretion of the committee the paper may need to be revised and resubmitted before it is

approved. Once approved, the paper should be filed with the clinical area administrative

support person, together with the approval form signed by the committee (see appendix).

3. Students are expected to present their Second Year Projects at the Clinical Brown Bag in the

fifth semester of the program. This presentation, however, does not constitute part of the

evaluation of the project. Presentations should be no longer than 30 minutes in length and will

be followed by a question-and-answer period. Clinical faculty and students will complete a

feedback form for each presentation. The feedback is designed to be formative to help

students develop their presentation skills. (The feedback form is included in the appendix.)

Third Year Preliminary Requirement (Third Year Project)

Each student also is required to complete a written Third Year project under the guidance of a chair

and at least one additional clinical area committee member. If it would be helpful for the project, a

clinical adjunct faculty may serve as a third committee member. The specific nature of the project will

be tailored to the needs of the student and hence various types of papers can satisfy the Third Year

preliminary requirement. These include, but are not limited to, a critical review paper, a paper

reporting a meta-analysis, a theoretical paper, a paper reporting empirical research, or an NRSA or

F31 grant application. Whatever option is chosen, the paper should be no longer than 50 double-

spaced typed pages (using Times New Roman 12 point font), including the reference section, tables,

figures etc. The paper must follow APA publication style.

The following steps are involved in completing this requirement:

1. The student chooses a topic and prepares a statement of goals (maximum of two pages),

which is to be presented to prospective committee members. After some discussion with

faculty, the student forms a committee.

2. A paper is prepared in consultation with the committee.

3. All students must have a meeting of their committee to discuss their final paper. At this

meeting, students should be prepared to give a brief oral presentation of their project and to

discuss the paper. The exact nature of the presentation and discussion is to be determined by

the committee. The committee evaluates and, if appropriate, approves the paper. Once

approved, the paper should be filed with the clinical area secretary, together with the approval

form signed by the committee (see Appendix).

Given the critical importance of the Second and Third Year Projects in the training of the Ph.D.

candidate, a waiver of these requirements based on previous work generally will not be granted.

The high expectation for quality in these projects will mean that most papers will go through several

drafts. You should anticipate that it will require at least four months to bring a project from a complete

initial draft to a fully approved project.

Deadlines for Completion of Projects

The Second Year and Third Year Projects are to be completed by the end of the fourth and sixth

semesters, respectively. It is important for you to have a realistic sense of the time pressures

imposed by this system of deadlines. Most students should use their first semester to explore

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possible topics for their preliminary requirements, and to approach faculty members about being on

the committee.

If you cannot complete a project by the deadline, you must submit a formal petition to the clinical area

for an extension. This petition should be submitted as soon as it becomes clear that the

original deadline is not likely to be met. It must be submitted no later than the date of the

original deadline. In the petition, you must demonstrate that the project was begun early, pursued in

earnest, and designed intelligently, and that unpredictable circumstances have impeded the proper

collection of data or the proper analysis of data. You must also provide a timeline documenting the

steps needed to finish the project and request a specific date for the extension. Extensions can be

granted for up to (but not exceeding) 12 months from the original deadline date. The student must

obtain their advisor's signature, indicating their approval, before submitting this petition to the Clinical

Area Head.

Students who complete required projects within the stated deadlines are considered to be in good

standing in the program. Students who do not complete a preliminary project by the deadline are

considered to be not in good standing in the program unless they have an approved extension.

(Extensions are only granted if submitted prior to the date of the original deadline.) Likewise,

students who do not complete a preliminary project by the date of an approved extension also are

considered to be not in good standing in the program. Good standing is regained once the student

completes all tardy projects. If the student is not in good standing for 6 months, the student must

submit a formal letter to the Area documenting progress that has been made and remaining steps

needed to complete the preliminary project. If the student is not in good standing for 12 months, the

Area Faculty will formally vote on terminating the student from the program. Funded students on an

extension or not in good standing are not allowed to engage in external teaching activities. (This

restriction does not apply to unfunded students). Students on an extension can petition the faculty for

an exemption to this policy.

Faculty are expected to read and promptly return drafts of these major projects. The operational

definition of “promptly” is within three weeks. Students should not be penalized for delays caused by

faculty. Therefore, any time a faculty member holds a paper longer than three weeks, the time in

excess of three weeks becomes an automatic grace period. If there are delays on successive drafts,

these grace periods are summed. The three-week rule does not apply to the summer months when

faculty typically are not paid and not required to read papers. It is the student’s responsibility to

document delays in faculty reviews.

In a similar vein, students also have an obligation to submit work in a timely manner. Specifically,

materials to be evaluated must be submitted at least two weeks prior to the scheduled examination

date. When work is not submitted in a timely manner the examination date will be rescheduled to a

time that is at least two weeks later than the date the work was submitted.

Third Year Clinical Case Presentation Preliminary Requirement

Each student must prepare an oral presentation describing an empirically supported intervention that

she/he has delivered to an individual, couple, family, group, or community. This presentation should

be about 25 minutes and delivered during the Clinical Brown Bag series in the second semester of

the student's third year in the program. The presentation should demonstrate that the student has a

conceptual understanding of important aspects of clinical evaluation and intervention and that the

formulation of the intervention strategies was based on a set of principles that can be understood and

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 14

discussed. The presentation should discuss the nature and extent of outcome evaluation and should

reveal the student's level of clinical, as well as conceptual, skill in delivering the intervention.

Furthermore, the presentation should consider the role (or potential role) of demographic and cultural

issues, as well as relevant ethical issues, in the evaluation and treatment plan formulation; these

considerations should be evidence-based when possible. Ideally, this presentation should possess

value as a teaching instrument for beginning students.

The overriding goal of the presentation is to demonstrate students' clinical skills in the context of a

clinical science approach. This includes skills in assessment, conceptualization, intervention, and

clinical decision making, as well as the application of the scientific literature to each of these activities.

Students are expected to demonstrate both breadth and depth in their thinking about clinical

activities. The Area's evaluation will focus on the student's ability to discuss the following aspects of

an intervention of their choosing:

1. Conceptualization: Identify the client (individual, couple, family, organization, community, etc.)

and describe the formulation used to understand the client and to design the intervention. Be

sure to discuss the theoretical framework underlying the case conceptualization and why that

framework was chosen over alternative theoretical frameworks.

2. Assessment procedures: The assessment should inform case conceptualizations and be used

to track progress relevant to therapy goals. Describe how the initial assessment was

conducted and how ongoing assessment over time was designed and conducted. Show test

results and describe the clinical hypotheses that they suggested.

3. Process and outcome of intervention: Describe the course, progress, and outcome of the

intervention and discuss factors relevant to this course (e.g., specific gains made and what led

to them, problems in the working relationship with the client and how they were handled, non-

compliance and how that was handled, etc.)

4. Ethical issues: Identify relevant ethical issues that bear upon working with this client (e.g.,

confidentiality, conflict of interest, dual relationship, etc.).

5. Socio-cultural/socio-political issues: Discuss larger social, environmental, or contextual factors

that bear upon working with this client (e.g., socioeconomic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation,

disabilities, gender issues, stigma, religion, managed care, etc.).

6. Use and Discussion of Evidence-Based Practices: Discuss and cite the empirical basis for your

case conceptualization (e.g., how does the scientific literature bear upon your diagnosis and

case conceptualization?) and the evaluation/intervention procedures you used with the client

(e.g., the relevant outcome literature). In doing this, compare and contrast the scientific basis

of your chosen procedures with other empirically supported methods discussed in the

literature; provide a clear and compelling argument for your choice of methods.

In addition, students also will receive a “Fidelity” rating from any supervisor who has overseen the

case. This rating pertains to how closely the clinical data presented reflect the supervisor’s own

perceptions of the case.

Note that all required elements need not be relevant to a given case presentation. When a required

element is not particularly relevant, the student will be expected to talk more broadly about that

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 15

element from an academic point of view (and/or to speculate on the ways it could have been relevant

if the client presented differently).

Students should use whatever materials are appropriate (e.g., test results and profiles, recorded

interviews with the client, etc.) to maximize the presentation's worth as both a teaching tool and a

vehicle for evaluation of clinical skills. Note, however, that care should be taken throughout the

presentation to guard the identity of the client as much as is possible. Given the sensitive nature of

these presentations, attendance will be limited to only core clinical faculty, clinical supervisors, and

doctoral students. In order to help with time management, the presenters will be given a signal at 20

minutes that they have 5 minutes to complete their presentation. At 25 minutes, the presentation will

be terminated.

The core faculty of the Clinical Area will evaluate the presentation according to the competencies

detailed above. These evaluations will be tabulated by the DCT, who will provide feedback to the

student one week after the presentation. Subsequent to the provision of feedback, the evaluations will

be filed in the student’s folder in the clinical area office. If the presentation does not meet the standard

for competence in any of the evaluation domains (defined as an average score of at least 3 out of 4 in

any domain or the total score), remedial steps will be discussed by the clinical faculty at the student

guidance meeting at the end of the semester. Once the presentation is approved, the student should

file the approval form signed by the primary mentor and the DCT to the area administrator.

Pre-Internship certification of clinical competence

To be certified as clinically competent the student must successfully complete: (1) at least two year-

long practica (four courses) beyond the Clinical Interventions courses. There should be non-

overlapping supervision among the courses so that each student will have been supervised by at

least two different clinical faculty supervisors; (2) the third-year clinical case presentation.

APPROVED CLINICAL INTERNSHIP

In addition to the preliminary certification of clinical competence, the student must satisfactorily

complete an approved internship. To apply for internship in a given year, ALL required courses,

research projects, practica, the clinical case presentation must be completed by October 15 of that

year. In addition, students applying for internship are required to defend their dissertation proposals

by September 15 of the application year. If the committee requests changes, students will have until

October 15 to complete the changes and get approval from all committee members. If these

deadlines are not met, students will not be certified for internship readiness by the DCT or Associate

DCT.

The area requires an APA-accredited internship that is primarily Clinical Psychology in nature. If an

internship is CPA-approved and meets all the standards and profession wide competencies (PWCs)

of an APA-accredited internship, it will likely be approved by the Area, but a petition to the area is

needed that includes the full brochure of the internship site, description of the rotations, training

model, competencies evaluated, and supervision plan. In addition in such cases, students must

submit a petition to the Area that also:

1. specifies the nature and frequency of supervision, as well as the credentials of the supervisors

2. specifies how the students would demonstrate competency at the appropriate level

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 16

3. ensures that there is a mechanism in place by which the student's performance is evaluated and

that this information is communication to the DCT or ADCT to retain in the student’s files

4. ensures that there is a mechanism in place to demonstrate that the approved training plan was

followed

5. includes the APPIC Application For Psychology Internship (AAPI) form

6. Includes and evaluates all PWCs that are required as part of an APA accredited internship

These petitions would then be considered by the faculty on a case-by-case basis.

It is expected that a student will complete an approved internship satisfactorily. An evaluation of

performance will be obtained from the internship agency. The internship must be completed to the

satisfaction of the internship agency for the student to qualify for the Ph.D. degree.

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

Character of the Dissertation: The Ph.D. Dissertation must be a major piece of research that is

grounded in clear and meaningful psychological theory and is a thoughtful, integrated, original

research effort. The dissertation should address a substantive research problem in psychology. The

dissertation research will be guided and evaluated by a Faculty committee selected by the student,

with consultation with the major professor.

Dissertation Committee: The student shall select a major professor who will bear most of the

responsibility for guidance. In addition, three other faculty members will serve on the Dissertation

Committee. As described in the Psychology Department Graduate Student Manual, two of the four

committee members must be from one of the areas within the Department. One faculty member must

be from a different area within the department. The fourth committee member can be from any

department at the University. More details concerning procedures for submitting the dissertation are

contained in the Psychology Department's Graduate Student Manual. In addition, students should

consult the Office of the Graduate School for the most current administrative details concerning the

deadlines for submission of programs, etc.

Scheduling a Final Defense: Per Department and University Policies, students must complete the

“Permission to Defend” form (PT-D) and have it signed by all committee members at least two weeks

prior to scheduling a final defense date. The purpose of this form is for committee members to make

a determination that the written document is above threshold for holding the final defense meeting. In

practice, this means that students must distribute their dissertation final drafts to their committee

members at least four weeks prior to an anticipated defense date (two weeks prior to PT-D form

deadline). Note that if any committee member deems the written document to be below threshold,

additional time will be needed before a final defense date can be scheduled. Please keep these firm

deadlines—as well as the degree conferral deadlines set by the Graduate School in a given year—in

mind when planning your dissertation timeline. Finally, per Department rules, note that students are

not permitted to participate in graduation ceremonies unless the dissertation has been successfully

defended.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 17

Time to Completion of the Degree: The program is designed to be completed in six years—five in

residence completing course requirements, clinical practica, and research—and a final year

completing an APA-accredited clinical internship. Going longer than five years in residence requires

a formal proposal to and approval of the Area faculty. An extra year is permissible only when

circumstances justify it (e.g., a funded NRSA fellowship, other unavoidable circumstances). In an

effort to reduce time to degree and to support students who are “not in good standing” and have

missed program milestone deadlines (i.e., late 2

year or 3

year projects without approved

extensions, clinical case presentation and dissertation proposal revisions not completed by 10/15 of

year) and/or are anticipated to be in residence beyond the 5

year for reasons other than a NRSA

or comparable training fellowship (e.g., NSF GRFP), a guidance committee will be formed by the area

that includes two core clinical faculty in addition to the mentor. Faculty mentors should consult with

students regarding preferences for membership. The mentor will schedule the meeting. The

committee will provide reports to the area at all guidance meetings. The committee will meet with the

student promptly (i.e., 10 academic days) after an issue has been identified and at least once each

semester to discuss strategies for completing program milestones and will provide guidance as

needed to support timely completion of the degree. For students prior to the 5

year, the work of the

committee will end when a return to good standing is achieved. For students in the 5

year or beyond

the committee will be in place until the student leaves for internship. This policy will apply to all

students starting in Fall 2023. In addition, note well that the Graduate School requires that work

toward a Ph.D. degree must be completed within seven years (official leaves of absence excluded)

from first registration date. The student may petition for an extension of this deadline, but the

Graduate School is not easily swayed in granting such extensions.

SUMMARY OF MINIMUM LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT

To graduate from the Clinical Psychology PhD program at the University at Buffalo, the following

summarizes the minimum levels of achievement. Details and operational definitions are found

throughout this handbook.

1. Students must pass all required courses with a grade of B- or better.

2. Students must successfully propose, complete, and defend an empirical Second-year Project,

and must present the results of the project during the clinical brown bag series.

3. Students must successfully complete and defend a Third-year Project.

4. Students must successfully complete the Third-year Clinical Case Presentation in the clinical

brown bag series. As described above, scores of 3 or better are required for all evaluation

criteria and the aggregate score.

5. Students must participate in manuscript preparation activities during their tenure in the

program, which includes at minimum the write-ups for their Second-year project, Third-year

project, and doctoral dissertation. In addition, students are encouraged to submit these

manuscripts for publication and to collaborate with faculty on additional manuscripts beyond

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 18

those required by the program. Students must demonstrate ratings of a “2” or higher

(“developmentally expected level of performance”) on all domains of the research evaluation

form at the end of the 3

year in the program.

6. Students must disseminate their research publically, at minimum to the Clinical faculty and

students in the clinical brown bag series, but preferably at professional conferences and

meetings.

7. Students are expected to participate in professional activities at the Department, University,

community, and/or profession levels. This can be demonstrated in a wide variety of ways,

including involvement in professional organizations; membership on Department, University, or

professional organization committees; participation in manuscript review activities;

presentations; publications; grant writing; and/or teaching.

8. Students must successfully complete all University-mandated research ethics courses (e.g.,

CITI course) and demonstrate sensitivity to ethical principles in clinical and research work.

9. Students must demonstrate sensitivity to diversity in clinical and research work.

10. Prior to being certified as ready to apply for internship, students must attain ratings of 2 or

greater ("developmentally expected level of performance") on all domains listed on the Clinical

Practicum Evaluation Form, completed following each internal and external practicum

experience.

11. Students must successfully complete an APA-accredited predoctoral internship or a CPA-

accredited internship approved by the Clinical Area faculty.

12. Students must successfully complete the dissertation.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 19

CHAPTER 3

Procedural Matters

Grievances and Record Retention

Student records for current and former graduates dating back several decades to the 1960s are

confidential and securely maintained in the program staff assistant’s office within the secure

Department of Psychology main office suite or for older records in the secure Department file store

room located on the 2

floor of Park Hall. If a formal complaint or grievance is submitted by a current

or former graduate student, those materials would be filed in the staff assistant’s office and would be

confidential. A dedicated file is available for such documents and is located in a locked file cabinet in

the Staff Assistant’s office, which is kept locked at all times. Keys to the file cabinet are available only

to the Staff Assistant and Department Chair.

The are several mechanisms in place for resolving issues and grievances should they arise. These

resources are described on the Graduate School website under “Academic Grievances” in the policy

library. Students are encouraged to contact their advisor, any faculty member (including the

DCT/Associate DCT/Director of the PSC), Chief Diversity Officer in the Department of Psychology,

Director of Graduate Studies, and Department Chair (or Associate Chair). In general, a student facing

a challenge should seek assistance where they are most comfortable. If a formal grievance is

submitted, policies are in place to protect the student and there are procedures in place for

Departmental level review and if needed may be brought before the Department of Psychology

Grievance Committee, which is a standing committee in the Department with faculty and graduate

student representation. The committee submits their decision to the Chair who then conveys it to the

parties involved. If either principal wishes to appeal the department ruling, a written statement of the

appeal is filed within 10 academic days of receipt of the department’s Statement of Decision. The

appeal shall be filed with the College of Arts and Sciences and at the discretion of the Dean may be

submitted to the College of Arts and Sciences Grievance Committee. Beyond the college committee,

appeals are possible at the Graduate School Level. Students are protected from retribution as per

university policy. For further details consult the Graduate Student Manual and policy library links,

which are linked from the Department of Psychology website under “Info for Current Graduate

Students”.

Student Guidance and Consequences of Negative Evaluations

At each stage of progress through the program, the student's advisor reports to the Area Faculty on

the progress and performance of the student. Students failing to meet any program requirements

satisfactorily may, at the option of the faculty, be given a second chance to meet that requirement. An

individual who fails to meet preliminary requirements satisfactorily may be dropped from the program.

Clinical Competence Certification

In determining whether the student has met the minimum standards for clinical competence, the DCT

consults with faculty and reviews written clinical evaluations and course grades. Based on this

material, the DCT determines whether the student has had the minimum number of supervised client

contact hours, has successfully completed the required practicum sequence, has demonstrated (via

course performance and supervisor evaluations) an adequate level of clinical skill and requisite level

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 20

of professional conduct, and has successfully completed the Third Year Clinical Case Presentation.

For a student who fails to meet pre-internship clinical competence level, the following procedure is

recommended: the student will conduct an additional year of clinical casework. This will include at

least 52 hours of direct contact in the Psychological Services Center, as well as any additional

placement. Upon completion of the casework, supervisors will submit their evaluations and a

conference will be held in which the overall progress of the student from the initial point to the end

point will be evaluated and another determination of clinical competence will be made.

If a student should fail to be certified on the second evaluation, the student will be released from the

Clinical Psychology Program.

If a student fails to complete the internship satisfactorily, a determination will be made at that point

about whether the internship was failed so severely that continued internship training would appear to

be fruitless, or whether an additional internship year might be sufficient to bring the student up to

professional skills level. Determination will be made on the basis of the full report from the supervising

internship agency and on the basis of previous evaluations. If a student should be considered to have

completely failed the internship requirements, he or she will be asked to pursue a non-clinical Ph.D.

Apprenticeships, Fellowships, and Assistantships

The major part of a student's training in our program is the mentorship relationship with a faculty

member. Therefore, an essential component of the training program is a required apprenticeship for

all students. Incoming students during their first year must establish an apprenticeship relationship

with a faculty member.

It is also expected that faculty mentors will make the apprenticeship meaningful. The faculty member

should involve the student in all phases of the ongoing projects, including conceptualization, design,

execution, analysis, and evaluation. It is hoped that the student will thereby experience as broadly as

possible the various components of the actual day-to-day experiences of the working faculty member.

After the first year, the student must continue in an apprenticeship relationship with a faculty member

of their own choosing. Usually, the chair of each preliminary thesis or original research project will be

working with the graduate student in an apprentice relationship. The chair of the doctoral dissertation

committee frequently has a similar relationship with a student.

It should be clearly understood that the apprenticeship relationship required of students is

independent of the financial support that they may receive from the Department. All students are

expected to serve as apprentices, irrespective of their financial support or lack thereof. Similarly, as

indicated in the Department's Graduate Student Manual, service as a teaching assistant or in

teaching a course is considered part of a doctoral student's professional training. All students,

whether funded or not, are expected to perform some teaching service during their graduate careers.

Standards about how much time a student should be spending on an apprenticeship are variable, but

it is reasonable for a student to spend approximately 20 hours per week (about 1000 hours per year)

in apprenticeship training with a faculty member. Students should be aware that when they pursue

their careers after the completion of the Ph.D., the quality of performance in apprenticeship activities

is likely to carry far more influence than grades and other so-called objective criteria. It is generally

accepted that the relationship that students establish with faculty members may be a far more

significant component of their overall graduate education than some of the other more formally

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 21

prescribed components.

Advisement

Each student must have an academic advisor who is a core member of the clinical faculty. The

academic advisor can be the student's research advisor or it can be another faculty member. That is

up to the student to choose. Some students may be more comfortable keeping their academic and

research advisors as the same person while others may welcome the opportunity to have formal

access to two faculty members. Either option is fine. Whatever option is chosen, it is important that

each student be represented by a faculty member at each Student Guidance Meeting.

How do you go about getting an academic advisor? Simply ask - all faculty members are open to

being approached by students who are not their research advisees. Establishing an advisor-advisee

relationship occurs by mutual agreement of student and faculty member.

It is the responsibility of the faculty academic advisor to provide general counsel regarding:

1. departmental and area requirements

2. development of a program of studies

3. the full faculty's view of the student's progress through the program.

It is assumed that the existence of an academic advisor will ensure that at least one faculty member

is concerned for the general welfare of each student. Students are encouraged to consult their

academic advisor on any matter related to their graduate and professional careers. This is especially

important in the first few months in the program, when you will be faced with difficult decisions

(regarding courses, faculty committees, etc.) at a time when you may have little understanding of

Area regulations, informal administrative practices, and the general "culture" of the Area.

Psychological Services Center

A considerable amount of your practicum training will occur in the Psychological Services Center

(PSC). For example, Intervention I, II, III, and IV, which are required courses, take place in the PSC.

You will begin seeing cases in the PSC in the Fall semester of your 2

year in the program. To

facilitate a smooth transition into your work in the clinic, the area has developed a procedure for

“shadowing” a more senior student during the summer between your 1

and 2

years. This is

described below.

Clinical Shadowing Experience

During the summer before students’ 2

year in the program, they will have the opportunity to gain direct

exposure to clinical work by “shadowing” a senior student in the PSC. For those students electing to shadow,

the experience will include observing two therapy sessions from the observation room, and attending one

supervision session with the senior student’s supervisor. Prior to each therapy session the senior student will

orient the junior student to the process of preparing for a session. In addition, they will debrief following each

session, and review any questions the junior student might have. Ideally, the observation of supervision should

occur between therapy sessions in order to demonstrate how supervisor feedback is provided and

subsequently incorporated into a treatment plan. All advanced students will be contacted by the PSC Director

at the beginning of the summer in order to identify volunteers to provide this shadowing opportunity; junior

students will then be assigned accordingly.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 22

Note that this shadowing experience is optional. It is intended to help students feel more comfortable

when they begin their work in the clinic. It is not a program requirement. If you are interested in

participating in this experience, you should contact the Clinic Director at the end of the Spring

semester of your 1

year to be connected with a senior graduate student whom you can shadow.

In an effort to frontload clinical training, maximize clinical practice, and decrease the time to a full

caseload (i.e., three clients), first year students are expected to participate in a seminar over the

summer, led by advanced students (and supervised by a core faculty member). Rising second-year

students and advanced student instructors will meet weekly for 1 hour for 9-10 weeks during the

summer at an agreed upon time to discuss how to administer and score the SCID.

In addition, any students seeing PSC cases over the summer between their 2nd and 3rd year are

required to enroll in Intervention V (PSY 765) during the fall semester of their 3rd year. (A copy of the

PSC Policy and Procedures manual is available on the Department of Psychology – Clinical Area

website.) Please note that client records and reports must be completed in a timely manner. At the

end of each term, the PSC Director and staff will complete a records audit; practicum grades and

clinical competency certifications will not be provided until all client records are up to date.

Once you have completed your required practicum courses, you are expected to at the PSC when in

residence and complete a minimum of 52 hours of direct service hours per year, with the exception of

the internship application year. Up to 26 hours may be completed in a faculty-sponsored intervention

setting. These are typically research-based interventions that are part of a faculty member’s ongoing

research program. All such experiences require the prior approval of the clinical faculty. If you are

planning on completing hours outside of the PSC in a faculty-sponsored research setting, you should

write a letter to the DCT/Associate DCT detailing your plans, including the setting, the faculty member

supervising your clinical activities, the total number of client contact hours and direct supervision

hours you expect to have, and the dates that you will be involved in that setting. This letter should be

submitted to the DCT/Associate DCT no later than two weeks prior to your beginning seeing any

clients in this setting. The DCT/Associate DCT, in consultation with the faculty, will review your

request and, if the activity is approved, a signed copy of the letter will be placed in your student file.

Approval for these activities will be in effect for no more than one year after the submission of the

letter.

Also note that the PSC maintains an incentive system for rewarding advanced students (i.e., those

beyond the required practicum courses) for seeing more than 52 hours of direct service in any given

year. Once a student reaches the 52-hour threshold in a given year, $5 of each additional session

fee collected (or the actual fee collected if it less than $5) is contributed to a pool of funds that can be

used by students for professional expenses (e.g., conference travel, internship application expenses,

books and software, etc.). Students' shares of this fund will be proportional to the number of client

hours that they contributed to the pool. Note that incentive policies may change from year to year,

depending on PSC revenues and expenses. More details on work and PSC policies may be found in

the PSC Manual.

Semi-Annual Student Guidance Meeting

Twice each academic year the faculty will meet to review the progress of each student.

Progress report: Before each Guidance Meeting, you will be asked to complete a short progress

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 23

report (see appendix for progress report form). You and your academic advisor should review your

progress report (and discuss any other relevant matters) before the Guidance Meeting. This is not

meant to be a bureaucratic chore but rather something functional, to ensure that faculty members

have access to relevant information in considering your progress and that you have someone who

can speak for you in the meeting.

Feedback letter: Your academic advisor will write you a feedback letter following each Guidance

meeting that is co-signed by the DCT and the Director of Graduate Studies. You also will be asked to

sign the letter, attesting that you have read the letter and discussed its contents with your advisor.

The letter will become part of the records kept by the Department. Students and academic advisors

may make additional arrangements for feedback (e.g., a face-to-face meeting) if they so wish.

Meeting that includes DCT: Where a student is encountering serious problems (or where special

circumstances warrant), s/he will be asked to meet with their academic advisor following the

Guidance Meeting. The DCT will also attend this meeting (as an aide memoire).

Third-year Review: A formal review of all students is completed at the end of their third year in the

program. Those who have not completed required courses, research projects, clinical competency

requirements, and other required assignments will be particularly scrutinized. Outcomes after this

review include (a) continuation in the program, (b) continuation with a formal remediation plan and

timeline, or (c) expulsion from the program.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 24

CHAPTER 4

Expectations

Mentors

The most important person in your graduate career is your academic and research advisor or

advisors. It is critically important that you maintain close contact with your advisor(s) throughout your

graduate career. Graduate education is based on mentorship. If for any reason you are not

comfortable with your advisor or if you would like to change your research focus and work with

another advisor, you should take steps to connect with a new advisor of your choice. Nothing gets

students in academic jeopardy more quickly than becoming isolated from the faculty and a faculty

advisor.

The Faculty

The relationship between you and the clinical faculty is critical. You are encouraged to not only work

closely with your mentor, but also to utilize the other faculty resources of the area. You will likely have

courses from most of the faculty in the area. Courses at a graduate level are much more active than

at an undergraduate level. Talking with faculty, discussing ideas, raising questions, are all a part of a

graduate training. Bouncing ideas off two or three different faculty members often gives you additional

perspectives on a problem and sharpens your own thinking. The members of the faculty are

committed to graduate education or they would not be here. You will find most faculty members are

easily approachable and willing to talk with you.

Professional Responsibility

From the day you start graduate school it is important to realize that you are now a professional. As a

professional, much more is expected of you. Your mentorship relationship with your academic advisor

involves a commitment to be an active part of their research laboratory. Your graduate classes and

seminars are very important. The expectation is that you will attend all of your classes unless illness

or an unavoidable professional conflict interferes with attendance. Deadlines are a constant fact of life

for professionals, and they must be dealt with effectively. Waiting until the deadline is nearly here

before beginning a project never works at a graduate level, where much more is expected than

probably has ever been expected of you before. Your work with clients carries a number of

responsibilities that are unlike any that you likely faced before. In an emergency, the welfare of your

client comes first and foremost. That may mean speaking with your client at 2:00 a.m. if they are

suicidal, and of course, contacting your supervisors (yes, calling them at 2:00 a.m. as well) to keep

them informed of your actions. Appointments with clients should be considered sacred. You should

arrive on time and prepared for every session. The professional responsibilities that you have to your

client can be complex and at times may even conflict with one another. Using your supervisors as

resources when dealing with difficult cases is valuable. You will have other responsibilities as well. As

part of your graduate training, we require all students to have experience teaching. You will also be

called on to help with the general functioning of the department (e.g., all students are expected to

proctor exams on occasions). Although there is very little learning involved in proctoring, your

willingness to shoulder your fair share of the responsibility will definitely be noticed by the faculty.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 25

Research Ethics

As a critical part of your professional development, we expect you to increase your knowledge of, and

sensitivity to, issues surrounding the responsible conduct of research with human subjects and gain

an understanding and knowledge of the federal regulations and guidelines that apply to research with

human participants. Consequently, you must complete the web-based training in human subjects’

protection and research ethics offered by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI;

https://www.citiprogram.org). At a minimum, you must receive a score of 80% or higher on each of 11

training modules of the Social & Behavioral Research Investigators course to successfully complete

the CITI training. You will also have to successfully complete additional training modules available on

the CITI web site that are specific to human research regulations and practices at the University at

Buffalo. Depending on the research in which you are involved, you may have to complete additional

modules on the CITI web site. You should consult with your advisor regarding additional training

available through CITI.

Brown Bag Attendance

Clinical Area Brown Bags give you the chance to hear about the science your colleagues are doing

and are an easy way to catch up on a diverse menu of what is going on in clinical psychology. They

also let you ask questions and hear people discuss what we think are important conceptual and

methodological issues. Further, Brown Bags provide clear models of what works in good

presentations – because being an effective clinical psychologist means mastering presentations, it is

helpful to have a friendly forum for improving your skills in this arena. Finally, science is a communal,

public enterprise, and Brown Bags are the only regular community activity that we have in our area.

With all that in mind, the Clinical faculty thinks it is very important for your training and the health of

our program that we have strong attendance at Brown Bags. Consequently, attendance at Clinical

Area Brown Bags is considered mandatory for all students and core clinical faculty.

Involvement

The faculty work to involve students in most aspects of our training program. Students are given a

voice in governance and shaping policies of the program. Each year we solicit two student volunteers

to represent students at our clinical program faculty meetings. These representatives voice student

concerns, report back to our student body, and as needed, seek feedback from the student body on

issues facing the program and new policies. Another place where students have a voice in

governance and program policy is at semesterly town hall meetings with Director of Clinical Training

(DCT) and Associate DCT in the fall and all core faculty in the spring. These town hall meetings are

largely unstructured and provide a venue for students to raise concerns and provide feedback on

policy and program changes. The DCT then brings the issues to the clinical faculty. Student

representatives also sit on our clinical program Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee to help

shape policy and initiatives relevant to diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Each year we appoint 1-

2 students as Assistant Directors of our Psychological Services Center (PSC) and the Assistant

Director(s) sit on the PSC advisory board to provide student feedback and perspectives on clinic

policy. Students are also actively involved in our admissions committee and help plan yearly

recruitment events. In short, please reach out to faculty and become involved in the administration

and functioning of your program!

It is the expectation of the Area that all faculty and students will make a reasonable attempt to

participate in all aspects of program. These include but are not limited to attendance and participation

at brown bag and area hosted colloquia (as mentioned above), job talks/candidate meals, and

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 26

recruitment weekend/dinners. Regarding recruitment weekend/dinners it is customary for first- and

second-year cohorts to assist with the planning of recruitment weekend, but all students (regardless

of the recruitment status of their lab) should participate in visit weekend and attend the dinners unless

they have an illness or unavoidable commitment (e.g., out of town conference, family emergency,

religious observance).

Professional Image

As mentioned above, from the day you start graduate school you are considered a professional. As

such, you need to behave as a professional. That does not mean that you will become a "stuffed

shirt," who never smiles, much less laughs. What it does mean is that you will be aware that your

behavior is under scrutiny in a hundred different situations in which it has never been under scrutiny

before. The way you talk and present yourself in classrooms when you are the teaching assistant, the

way you behave when at the University around other faculty or students, and the way you conduct

yourself in a variety of public situations outside of the University will all affect the way you are viewed

as a clinical psychologist and a professional. The norms of expected behavior will be different

depending upon the nature of the work that you might be doing (e.g., your dress is typically more

formal when seeing clients than it might be for attending a class). But other aspects of your demeanor

should be reasonably fixed across all kinds of situations. It is no accident that the ethical principles

specifically address this issue in broad terms and that most licensing laws have provisions for

evaluating the conduct of professionals on dimensions other than their professional competence. For

example, a criminal conviction in most cases will result in the almost certain revocation of your license

to practice as a professional. Short of that, however, the way you conduct yourself in the community

influences how you are viewed professionally and how the discipline of psychology is viewed more

broadly.

A few things to consider:

1 Internship programs report conducting web searches on applicants' names before inviting

applicants for interviews and before deciding to rank applicants in the match.

2 Clients are conducting web-based searches on trainees' names and finding information about

therapists (and declining to come to clinics based on what they find).

3 Potential employers are conducting on-line searches of potential employees prior to interviews

and job offers.

4 Legal authorities are looking at websites/social media for evidence of illegal activities. Some

prima facie evidence may be gained from websites such as photographs, but text may also

alert authorities to investigate further.

5 Postings to a variety of listservs/social media activity might reflect poorly on oneself and the

program.

6 Although signature lines are ways of indicating your uniqueness and philosophy, one is not in

control of where the emails will ever end up and might affect how others view you as a

professional. Quotations on personal philosophy quotations, religious beliefs, and political

attitudes might have adverse reactions from other people.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 27

7 Voicemail messages might also be entertaining to your peers, express your individuality, and

be amusing indications of your sense of humor. Greetings on voicemail services should be

thoughtfully constructed. If you ever use your cell phone or home telephone for professional

purposes (research, teaching, or clinical activities), be sure your greeting is appropriate and

professional in demeanor and content.

8 There are now a number of negative episodes in training programs and at universities where

graduate students have been negatively affected by material on websites, social media,

podcasts, emails, and voicemail messages. (Indeed, there are examples of emails from faculty

and students getting published in the popular press/social media that caused people harm.)

Information that seems to be fun, informative, and candid might put the program and the student in a

bad light or even in potential legal jeopardy. What might be seen as "private" self-disclosure indicating

your perceptions of yourself among friends is actually very public. This includes blogs, personal web

pages, and social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, X, Linkedin).

Trainees are reminded that, if you identify yourself as graduate student in the program, then we have

some interest in how you portray yourself (see other policies in the program). If you report doing

something unethical or illegal, then the website may be used by the program to determine probation

or even retention. As a preventive measure, the Program advises that students (and faculty)

approach social media and websites, including personal information, carefully. Is there anything

posted that one would not want the program faculty, employers, family, or clients to read or view?

Students are advised to engage in "safe" web practices and be concerned now about professional

demeanor and presentation.

Professional Contacts

One of the most valuable things that you can do as a professional is to develop the contacts that will

be resources to your professional career in the future. Some of these contacts, for example, may be

made at the Clinical Brown Bags, where the speakers from the community come in to talk about their

work. Another excellent way of meeting people in the discipline is to attend conventions and/or

outside training activities. There are regular conventions held by most psychological organizations,

many of which are within driving distance of Buffalo. When you attend such programs or conventions,

it is valuable to introduce yourself to people and talk with them about their work and yours. This is

often a difficult thing to do, but a valuable aide to your career.

Policy Concerning Teaching and Outside Employment

Students must obtain permission from the clinical faculty in order to engage in teaching or outside

employment that is not programmatically required or that is not required as part of the student's

training fellowship (e.g., NRSA). This policy applies both to courses/jobs at the University at Buffalo

and elsewhere. At each Student Guidance Meeting (held biannually at the end of every semester) the

clinical faculty will judge whether or not additional work/teaching responsibilities would be appropriate

given the student's academic progress. Every student will receive a statement in their Guidance

Letter indicating whether or not they are eligible to apply for work/teaching positions.

Eligibility/ineligibility would be in force for the period up to the next student guidance meeting at which

time the issue would be re-evaluated. Students who are not granted permission at the Guidance

Meeting may petition for permission once they have addressed the specific training deficit noted in

the letter. This petition would need to be approved by both the student's academic advisor and the

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 28

DCT. Students who accept positions without faculty approval will face serious consequences. In

addition to going on probation, the faculty will consider removal of the student's funding line and/or

prohibition of any future teaching in the Department. This policy does not apply to positions that are

held only during the summer months between semesters unless the student is on a research line that

provides funding during the summer months. Likewise, it would not apply to students who are not

currently on funded lines (state lines or research assistant lines).

As noted in guidance letters each semester, before accepting a particular position, students are

expected to consult with their advisor about how the position would influence their progress in the

program and professional development. Finally, at the time of accepting a teaching position or any

outside employment, students are required to notify both their advisor and the DCT in writing (email is

acceptable).

Vacations

The clinical training program is a twelve-month a year commitment. Summers are usually a busy time

in which students plan, complete, and write up research projects. Your responsibilities to your clients

also continue even though the semester may end. The academic calendar may affect your courses,

but the rest of your training goes on regardless of the calendar. Of course, self-care is valued by the

program and it is important to take time away from time to time. A good rule of thumb is that you take

3 weeks of total vacation over the course of a year.

Being a Part of the Program

Last, but certainly not least, the saying "out of sight, out of mind" is very relevant to a professional and

really should be remembered during your graduate career. We recognize that your office may not

always be the best place to get work done. Spending time working at home or working in the library

may be more efficient. However, it is advisable that you spend a good deal of time in the department

close to your faculty mentors and graduate student colleagues. The close contact with faculty and

graduate students is an important part of the socialization process that transforms the student into a

professional. Learning difficult concepts is often more effective when graduate students challenge

one another by discussing the concepts, even challenging their relevance, and integrating the

concepts into the many aspects of your professional life. Graduate school is also a stressful

environment. We believe we have gone as far as one can in reducing the stress of graduate school

while still maintaining high professional standards for our students. The support of faculty and

graduate students represents a significant buffer against the stress. In a department that is constantly

cramped for space, the faculty has committed itself to setting aside space for graduate student

offices. We have done so because we believe that your professional development depends on

physical contact with the program.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 29

Technical Standards: Serving a Diverse Public

(Adapted from UNC-Chapel Hill; https://clinicalpsych.unc.edu/technical-standards/

Obtaining a Ph.D. from the Clinical Psychology Program requires demonstration of competence across various

knowledge and skill domains. Doctoral students must acquire substantial competence in the discipline of

clinical psychology as specified by our two clinical psychology accreditation bodies and must be able to relate

appropriately to clients, fellow graduate students, faculty and staff members, and other health care

professionals.

An array of cognitive, behavioral, affective, interpersonal, and communication abilities are required to perform

these functions competently. These skills and functions are not only essential to the successful completion of

the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program, but they are also necessary to ensure the health and safety of clients,

fellow graduate students, faculty and staff members, and other health care professionals.

In our APA/PCSAS-accredited program, we are committed to a training process that ensures that doctoral

students develop the knowledge, skills, competency, and attitudes to work effectively with members of the

university community and public who embody intersecting identities, attitudes, beliefs, and values. When

doctoral students’ attitudes, beliefs, or values create tensions that negatively impact the training process or their

ability to effectively treat members of the public, the program faculty and supervisors are committed to a

developmentally-appropriate training approach that is designed to support the acquisition of professional

competence.

For some trainees, integrating personal beliefs or values with professional competence in working with all

clients may require additional training and support. Ultimately though, to complete our program successfully,

all doctoral students in clinical psychology must be able to work with any client placed in their care in a

beneficial manner. Professional competencies are determined by the profession for the benefit and protection of

the public; consequently, students do not have the option to avoid working with particular client populations or

refuse to develop professional competencies because of conflicts with their attitudes, beliefs, or values. These

standards do not imply that trainees must continue working with clients who are harmful, triggering, or present

safety concerns to the trainee. Furthermore, these standards recognize that some clients may not be appropriate

for treatment within the PSC or program-affiliated practicum sites.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 30

APPENDIX

Forms

On the following pages are samples of two forms that need to be filled out to document the

completion of one of the required tasks for the Ph.D. degree. Other forms are available on the

Department of Psychology website under “Info for Current Graduate Students”. Please note that

these forms are used within the clinical area. Other forms generated by the University are used to

document completion of work that leads to degree conferral. University forms and requirements are

constantly changing. The Director of Graduate Studies or the Secretary to the Chair can help you with

university forms and requirements.

Informal Course Descriptions

When you file for a degree (either Masters or Ph.D.), you must be able to document the nature of

courses that are not described in the University Catalog. These include courses such as Graduate

Work (600), Applied Skills Supervision (799), and Thesis Guidance (799). Also included are most

practica courses and seminars. The course description must include what the purpose of the course

was, what you did, and a list of readings. It is to your advantage to maintain a systematic record of

these items as you are going through the program. This will greatly simplify your task of applying for a

degree and eventually applying for a license in a state other than New York.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 31

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

Buffalo, New York

Clinical Area Preliminary Requirement

The Second Year Project/ Third Year Project/Third Year Clinical Case Presentation (delete as

appropriate) Preliminary Requirement

for ______________________________ was approved on ____________

________________________________________________________________

Title of Project (for 2

and 3

year projects)

For Second and Third Year projects:

Signature and Date

__________________________________ Chairperson

__________________________________ Committee Member

For Third Year Clinical Case Presentation

Signature and Date

__________________________________ Advisor

__________________________________ DCT

Please return this form to the clinical area office.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 32

Clinical Psychology Program

Department of Psychology

Park Hall, North Campus

The State University of New York, University at Buffalo

Buffalo, New York 14260

(716) 645-3650 x209

RELEASE OF INFORMATION AUTHORIZATION

FOR COMMUNITY PLACEMENTS AND CLINICAL INTERNSHIPS

Student Name

Student Date of Birth

Professional/Agency Name

Address

City/State/ZIP

Telephone

Fax

I hereby authorize the Clinical Psychology Program at the University at Buffalo to release information

concerning my academic and clinical training record to the above named professional or professional

agency.

________________________________________________________________

Signature of Student Date

I hereby authorize the Clinical Psychology Program at the University at Buffalo to request information

concerning my clinical training record from the above named professional or professional agency.

________________________________________________________________

Signature of Student Date

________________________________________

Signature of DCT

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 33

Student Guidance Meeting Progress Report/Self Study

(Revised April 2023)

Name: ______________ Academic Advisor: ____________

Semester: ____________ Year of Entry: ________________

Coursework Semester Grade Instructor

607: Stats I

608: Stats II

609: Multivariate Stats

604: Research Methods

611: History & Systems

617: Developmental

624: Psychopathology

654: Assessment

751: Adult Treatments

778: Child/Family Treatments

Clinical Elective

513: Bio Bases of Behavior (Bio-distribution)

639: Cognitive Processes (Cog-distribution)

680: Adv Social Psychology (Soc-distribution)

671: Intervention 1

672: Intervention 2

763: Intervention 3

764: Intervention 4

765: Intervention 5

799: Advanced Practicum (Taken twice)

605: Introduction to Professional Issues (Fall 2014 cohort and beyond)

2nd Year Project Advisor Reader Proposal Defense Date Approval Date

3rd Year Project Advisor Reader Approval Date

3rd Year Clinical Case Presentation Date Defended

Dissertation Proposal Chair C. member C. member O. Member Date Approved

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 34

Change of status: Any information relevant to a change in your status in the program (e.g., an outstanding

achievement, removal of incompletes, a completed prelim, removal of or impending probationary status, leaves

of absence, other?)

Publications (list all publications on your CV - oldest first - and highlight the articles or chapters added since

your last progress report)

Published

Submitted

In preparation

Presentations (list all posters, papers, colloquia on your CV - oldest first- and highlight those added since last

progress report)

Presented

Accepted

Submitted

Are you a member of a professional organization or society related to psychology?

____ Yes

____ No

Were you involved in teaching (e.g., serving as a TA or course instructor) since your last progress

report?

____ Yes

____ No

Other activities: Please describe any professional activities or achievements that are not indicated above

(e.g., additional research, teaching, training, consulting).

Plans: Please describe your academic and research plans for the next semester. Be sure to include any

information that would help clarify your status in the program.

Clinical Hours:

Please list the hours that you have as a target goal by the time you apply to internship:

______Direct Service-intervention

______Direct Service-assessment

Please list the hours that you have as a target goal for the academic year.

______Direct Service-intervention

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 35

______Direct Service-assessment

List the total number of approved clinical hours you have accumulated in (1) since you began the training

program and (2) since your last progress report. List these hours in three categories: Direct Service,

Supervision, and Support Activities.

______Direct Service-intervention

______Direct Service-assessment

Total hours since the start of the training program:

______Direct Service-intervention

______Direct Service-assessment

______Supervision

______Support Activities

Total since the last progress report:

______Direct Service-intervention

______Direct Service-assessment

______Supervision

______Support Activities

Assessments since last progress report:

Total # completed assessments this semester: _______

Types of assessments (ADHD, LD, etc):_________________________________

Total # assessments in progress: ___________

To the student: If you have accumulated clinical hours in a core faculty member’s laboratory that is not part of

an advanced practicum and you intend these hours to be certified by the DCT for your APPIC application for

internship, then please record the hours below, and have the faculty member sign to verify the hours. If you

have accumulated hours working with more than one faculty member, prepare a separate section for each

laboratory experience and have each supervising faculty member sign to verify the hours.

To the faculty member: This student has received the following clinical hours in my laboratory since

the last progress report:

______Direct Service-intervention

______Direct Service-assessment

______Supervision

______Support Activities

Faculty Signature ____________________________________

Date ____________________

For direct service, count each hour of a group, family, or couples session as one hour.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 36

For example, a two-hour group session with 12 adults is counted as two hours.

Experiences involving gathering information about the client / patient, but not in the actual presence

of the client / patient, should be considered “support activities.” Examples of “support activities”

include time spent on chart review, writing process notes, consulting with other professionals

about cases, video/audio tape review, time spent planning interventions, assessment

interpretation, report writing, etc. In addition, it includes hours spent at a practicum setting in

didactic training (e.g. grand rounds, seminars).

Student Signature: ______________________________________ Date: ____________________

Advisor Signature: ______________________________________ Date: ____________________

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 37

Evaluation of Student's Research Performance

(Revised February 2023)

Date ___________________________

Student ________________________ Mentor _________________________

This form is to be completed each semester as part of the student progress report/student guidance

meeting. If a milestone also occurred this semester and informed these ratings, please

circle below:

Second Year Prelim Third Year Prelim Dissertation Dissertation

Proposal

Instructions: Rate items using to the following scale

1 Needs work

2 Good (at the developmentally expected level of performance)

3 Exceptional

N/O No opportunity to observe / not applicable

RESEARCH SKILLS

1. ____ Demonstrates the substantially independent ability to formulate research or other

scholarly activities that are of sufficient quality and rigor to have the potential to

contribute to the scientific, psychological, or professional knowledge base.

2. ____ Engages in research or other scholarly activities that are consistent with their

developmental level.

3. ____ Demonstrates ability to critically evaluate research literature.

4. ____ Appropriately interprets the findings of their project and understands the strengths and

limitations of their research project.

5. ____ Shows competence in principles of measurement, design, and analysis of data.

6. ____ If applicable, disseminates research via professional publication and presentation at the

local, regional, or national level.

ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR

1. ____ Demonstrates knowledge of and adherence to ethical standards (i.e., APA Ethical

Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct) and professional guidelines for

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 38

research.

2. ____ Demonstrates developmentally-appropriate ability to work independently.

3. ____ Demonstrates carefulness in work (e.g., attention to detail).

4. ____ Behaves in ways that reflect the values and attitudes of psychology (e.g., integrity,

accountability, lifelong learning, concern for the welfare of others, etc.).

PROFESSIONAL VALUES AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

1. ___ Demonstrates ability to present and defend research ideas in professional manner.

2. ___ Produces and comprehends oral, nonverbal, and written communications that are informative

and professional.

RESEARCH SUPERVISION

1. ____ Shows openness and responsiveness to research feedback.

2. ____ Incorporates feedback into research projects.

RESEARCH ADMINSTRATION (For Mentors Only)

1. ____ Completes research tasks and writing in timely manner.

2. ____ Demonstrates quality and accuracy of written communications.

Please comment on your perceptions of the student's major strengths and weaknesses (including any

items rated as “1”).

Signature of Mentor ____________________________________

Date ____________________

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 39

To the student: If desired, please comment on your mentor or committee member’s perceptions of

your research strengths and weaknesses.

Student signature ____________________________________

Date _____________________

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 40

Year Clinical Case Presentation

Evaluation Form

Student Name: ________________________ Faculty: ______________________ Date:________

Conceptualization: From the handbook… Identify the client (individual, couple, family, organization, community, etc.)

and describe the formulation used to understand the client and to design the intervention. Be sure to discuss the

theoretical framework underlying the case conceptualization and why that framework was chosen over alternative

theoretical frameworks.

1 2 | 3 4

Poor Fair | Good Excellent

Assessment procedures: From the handbook… The assessment should inform case conceptualizations and be

used to track progress relevant to therapy goals. Describe how the initial assessment was conducted and how ongoing

assessment over time was designed and conducted. Show test results and describe the clinical hypotheses that they

suggested.

1 2 | 3 4

Poor Fair | Good Excellent

Process and outcome of intervention: From the handbook… Describe the course, progress, and outcome of the

intervention and discuss factors relevant to this course (e.g., specific gains made and what led to them, ruptures in the

working relationship with the client and how they were handled, non-compliance and how that was handled, etc.)

1 2 | 3 4

Poor Fair | Good Excellent

Ethical issues: From the handbook… Identify relevant ethical issues that bear upon working with this client (e.g.,

confidentiality, conflict of interest, dual relationship, etc.).

1 2 | 3 4

Poor Fair | Good Excellent

Socio-cultural/socio-political issues: From the handbook… Discuss larger social, environmental, or contextual

factors that bear upon working with this client (e.g., socioeconomic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, gender

issues, stigma, religion, managed care, etc.).

1 2 | 3 4

Poor Fair | Good Excellent

Use and Discussion of Evidence-Based Practices: From the handbook… Discuss and cite the empirical basis

for your case conceptualization (e.g., how does the scientific literature bear upon your diagnosis and case

conceptualization?) and the evaluation/intervention procedures you used with the client (e.g., the relevant outcome

literature). In doing this, compare and contrast the scientific basis of your chosen procedures with other empirically

supported methods discussed in the literature; provide a clear and compelling argument for your choice of methods.

1 2 | 3 4

Poor Fair | Good Excellent

Fidelity: For the supervising faculty only… To what extent does the case as presented match what actually happened?

1 2 | 3 4

Poor Fair | Good Excellent

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 41

Year Clinical Case Presentation

Scoring and Evaluation Details

As described in the Clinical Student Handbook, clinical case presentations will be evaluated by faculty

in attendance. Faculty will score each presentation using a four-point Likert scale (1 = poor; 2 = fair;

3 = good; 4 = excellent) on each of the six areas described in the handbook: (a) conceptualization, (b)

assessment procedures, (c) process and outcome of intervention, (d) ethical issues, (e) socio-

cultural/socio-political issues, and (f) use and discussion of evidence-based practices. Scores of 3

and 4 are considered passing scores for a given area, whereas scores of 1 and 2 are considered to

be below threshold. Final scoring will be tabulated by students' mentors within two weeks of the

presentation by averaging the scores of each faculty member within each area of evaluation.

Aggregated scores of less than 3.0 in any area will constitute a failure and will require remediation

efforts by the student, the exact nature of which will be decided at the next scheduled student

guidance meeting.

Clinical Psychology Student Handbook 42

Second -Year Project Presentation Feedback Form

Presenter:____________________________ Date ____________________

Rater (circle one): Faculty Student

Please provide feedback to the presenter on each of the following topics. You might also provide comments elaborating

any specific rating.

1. Sufficient background information was presented in the introduction to establish the significance of the proposed

research.